NEW YORK, March 28, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New data from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) shows that many modern cosmetic surgical procedures are on the rise, and that surgical procedures account for 77% of all surveyed physicians' business. The latest annual survey (Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank Statistics) from the organization now reflects input exclusively from ABPS board-certified plastic surgeons, which previously encompassed data from physicians in a wider range of specialties.

"We opted to change the format of our survey to better represent the specialty of plastic surgery," explains Clyde H. Ishii, MD, President of ASAPS. "After more than two decades of collecting data from various specialties it made sense for us to fine tune our survey and take a closer look at what board-certified plastic surgeons are seeing in their practices," he explains.

The new data demonstrates that many surgical procedures, previously believed to be on the decline or leveling out, are increasing in popularity. "Contrary to popular belief and what is depicted in mainstream media, the facelift is by no means dead," W. Grant Stevens, MD, President-elect of ASAPS said. "In fact, the new data indicates that the number of facelifts performed in the United States increased by 21.9% in the past year alone and by 21.8% over the past five years," he added. "With advances including less invasive techniques resulting in less post-operative downtime, an increasing number of patients are warming up to the idea of going under the knife as surgery still promises the longest term, if not permanent results," Stevens said.

Other plastic surgical procedures seeing significant growth include breast lifts, blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery – upper and lower), upper arm lifts and liposuction, all of which have seen double-digit increases over the past year alone and all of which have seen double-digit increases over the past five years as well.

Breast lifts are up by 13.9% over the past year and 57.5% over the past five years

Eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) is up 26.3% over the past year and 33.5% over the past five years

Liposuction is up 16.5% over the past year and 58.0% over the past five years

Upper arm lifts are up 20.1% over the past year and 59.1% over the past five years

The data also identified the top 5 surgical and nonsurgical procedures for men and women as follows:

About the ASAPS Cosmetic Surgery National Data Bank ASAPS, working with an independent research firm, compiled the national data for procedures performed 2012-2017. A paper-based questionnaire was mailed to 6,500 board-certified plastic surgeons. An online version of the questionnaire was also available. A total of 291 board-certified plastic surgeons returned questionnaires, of which 26 were retired or otherwise inactive during 2017. While surveys were distributed to all domestic, board-certified plastic surgeons, the results may reflect activities of surgeons who primarily conduct aesthetic surgical procedures.

Final figures have been projected to reflect nationwide statistics. Confidence intervals change by procedure, depending on the grouping's sample size and the response variance, though the overall survey portion of this research has a standard error of +/- 5.90% at a 95% level of confidence.